Councils urged to apply for £13K EU grant to help fund wireless connectivity

Councils can apply for a £13k (€15k) EU grant to help implement Wi-Fi before Brexit is finalised.

Local authorities have the opportunity to benefit from the European Commission-sponsored WiFi4EU funding programme, which gives councils and towns the opportunity to access EU financing to build free public wireless internet hotspots.

The scheme will fund the equipment and installation costs of internet access points.

The fund will be disbursed in a “geographically balanced manner”, so that high-speed connections can benefit both residents and visitors of thousands of local communities across the EU – at least 6,000 to 8,000 local communities by 2020. British authorities applying for funding under the scheme are not expected to be impacted by ‘Brexit’ until Britain leaves the EU in March 2019.

Local authorities can register on the WiFi4EU portal and apply for the grant or voucher. Applicants will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis.

As of April 25, some 74 UK municipalities had already registered.

“Despite uncertainty over Brexit, the UK is still eligible to participate, but time is running out. Connectivity stakes are high in today’s digital age, so UK councils are strongly encouraged to participate by registering today”, recommends Rob Clark, director, Technologies & Solutions Development at value added distributor Nuvias.

A recent YouGov research in the Digital High Street 2020 Report detailed how citizens today expect local authorities to provide Wi-Fi access in public areas such as shopping centres, stadiums, event venues, airports, train stations and bus stops. The study demonstrated that nearly 43 percent of Britons are frustrated by the lack of free, public Wi-Fi networks available.

Nuvias and networking leader Nokia say they are ready to help town and city councils move quickly to install and deploy Wi-Fi in the early stages of this programme, taking advantage of the EU grants worth up to £13k, in advance of Brexit.

“Small to medium town and city councils at the heart of this initiative have limited IT resources. But that should not deter local authorities from implementing Wi-Fi,” says Olivier Duroyon, head of public sector at Nokia.

Nokia AirScale Wi-Fi is built around a portfolio of latest generation Wi-Fi access points for outdoor and indoor deployment. Nokia claims it can simplify a city’s Wi-Fi network needs, from installing Wi-Fi access points through to managing the network, solving the challenge of lack of resources.